MONMOUTH, Ore. – As the race went along, Annika Esvelt kept picking up the pace and picking up positions.
 
The same can be said of Vanessa Aniteye for the entire season.
 
Esvelt, who was in 28th at the mile mark, moved all the way up to 18th by the finish line, and Aniteye, a sprinter in her first season on the trails, was 22nd and No. 2 for the Falcons coming into the chute on Saturday morning at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships.
 
The performances by Esvelt and Aniteye on the course at Ash Creek Preserve helped SPU take sixth place in the team standings with 149 points. Western Washington won it with 64, a 14-point margin ahead of second-place Saint Martin's (78).
 
Some of the Falcons were dealing with illness bugs, but associate head coach / distance coach Chris Reed said he couldn't have been happier with their efforts.
 
 

"It just took everything we had just to get to the starting line – sometimes, that happens," Reed said. "I'm just so proud of them for running the way they did. We were seventh for most of the race – 38 points behind Alaska Anchorage, then 30 points at the second mark, then we got it down to seven, then we tied them at the penultimate mark. We beat them by 14 (149 to 163) and that showed a lot of resolve as far as our ability through the race to compete and move forward.
 
"We've had higher-finishing teams in the past, but this performance, I'm extremely proud of," Reed added.
 
 

Falcons sophomore Esvelt ran her first race of the season on Oct. 1 at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, just a few miles from Monmouth, then did her first 6K of the season two weeks ago in the NCAA Pre-Nationals at Chambers Creek.
 
On Saturday, she steadily made her moves. She was 21st at 2.5 kilometers and was 17th at 3.9 and 4.4K. The only one who got past her between there and the finish was Evelyn Collins-Winn of Western Washington. But Esvelt hung on for 18th, and her final time of 22 minutes, 14.5 seconds for the 6-kilomter race was 49 seconds faster than the 23:03.90 she posted at Chambers Creek on Oct. 22.
 
"Annika looked a lot more like herself than at Pre-Nationals," Reed said. "She put herself in a nice position early on, and one of her trademarks is her ability to compete, and she competed throughout the race really tough. It was a much more complete race than two weeks ago."
 
 

Aniteye began her first season of cross country on Sept. 3 at the Puget Sound Invitational. She was fifth for the Falcons that day. Since then, she was No. 3 at Central Washington a week later, No. 2 at the Bowles, No. 4 at Pre-Nationals, and now back up to No. 2.
 
During Saturday's race, she was No. 4 for the Falcons and 51st overall at the mile mark. Aniteye was up to third for SPU and 36th overall at the 4.4 mark, then picked up a whopping 14 places in the final mile (about half of those in the last 200 meters), stopping the watch in 22:30.3. That was 63 faster than she ran on the 6K course at Chambers Creek two weeks ago.
 
"Vanessa was really fun to watch," Reed said. "We devised a plan that works better for her. (As a natural sprinter), one thing she has is the top-end speed that no one else in this field has. We needed to get her in a position to use her kick. She was probably a little bit too conservative early on, but at the end, she's so talented, she was able to rally. She's a big reason we moved up (in the team standings)."
 
True freshman Matise Mulch came across No. 3 for SPU and 28th overall in 22:33.0; redshirt sophomore Libby Michael was No. 4 and 39th in 22:57.5; and true freshman Maya Ewing was No. 5 and 45th in 23:37.3.
 
All three of them improved their times from Chambers Creek, which was the only other 6K on the Falcons schedule leading up to GNACs: Mulch by 44 seconds, Michael by 34, and Ewing by 86.
 
OWEN LEADS SPU MEN
Jon Owen took over the top spot for Seattle Pacific just beyond the mile mark and stayed at the head of the Falcons' pack for the rest of the day, leading them to an eighth-place finish in the men's race.
 
 

Owen finished his 8 kilometers worth of work in 26:00.0, giving him 40th place overall. It was his third 8K of the season and by far his best one. He cut his time from 26:43.7 at the Charles Bowles to 26:27.50 at Nationals to Saturday's 26 flat.
 
SPU finished the day with 228 points. That was enough to help them move up two spots from last year's 10th-place finish at Saint Martin's. (They also had 228 in that meet.) Western Washington had all five of its scorers in the top 10 (3-4-7-8-9) to win easily with 31 points. Simon Fraser was a distant second with 52.
 
"On the whole, the men weren't as ravaged by illness as the women. For some, it did have an effect, but I felt the men competed well," Reed said. "They were tough-minded and the were committed to their teammates."
 
Brennan LeBlanc was second across the line for Seattle Pacific, finishing 49th in 26:40.4. Completing the scoring were Drew Thompson (52nd in 27:40.6), Lucas Cervantes Reyes (56th in 27:36.2) and Nathaniel Gale (62nd in 27:50.4).
 
"Despite finishing in the bottom half of each race, both teams brought a championship mindset, and that's what we look for as coaches," Reed said. "I'm extremely proud of both teams for staying committed to the task when the situation wasn't what they were hoping it would be. They know how much it took to get through these races today, and it makes me excited for Regionals."
 
PHOTO FINISH
Kendall Kramer and Naomi Bailey of Alaska Fairbanks ran side-by-side in the lead for virtually the entire 6 kilometers on Saturday. They finished that way, too, joining hands as they crossed the finish line. Kramer was the winner in 20 minutes, 37.0 seconds; Bailey had a 20:37.1. Rosie Fordham, the other part of the Nanooks' sophomore trio, was fifth in 21:19.2.
 
At last year's GNACs, Fordham, Kramer, and Bailey went 2-3-4.
 
NOT A PHOTO FINISH
Cole Nash of Alaska Anchorage broke away from the pack shortly after the runners passed the mile mark and won the men's title in 23 minutes, 46.2 seconds for 8 kilometers. Charlie Dannatt of Simon Fraser was next in 24:03.4.
 
Nash and Dannatt were the top two GNAC finishers two weeks ago at the NCAA D2 Pre-Nationals. Nash was fourth and Dannatt was seventh with nearly-similar times: 23:47.40 for Nash, 24L00.70 for Dannatt.
 
UP NEXT
Both SPU teams will pack up for the NCAA D2 West Regionals. Those races will be at Amend Park in Billings, Montana, on Saturday, Nov. 19. The men's 10K starts at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time, followed by the women's 6K at 10:15.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
GNAC Championships
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022
6 kilometers at Ash Creek Preserve / Monmouth, Ore.
 
Team scores – 1, Western Washington 64; 2, Saint Martin's 78; 3, Simon Fraser 86; 4, Western Oregon 87; 5, Alaska Fairbanks 91; 6, Seattle Pacific 149; 7, Alaska Anchorage 163; 8, Montana State Billings 224; 9, Northwest Nazarene 242; 10, Central Washington 261.
 
Top 10 – 1, Kendall Kramer (UAF) 20:37.0; 2, Naomi Bailey (UAF) 20:37.1; 3, Caitlin Heldt (WOU) 21:09.1; 4, Alauna Carstens (STM) 21:16.7; 5, Rosie Fordham (UAF) 21:19.2; 6, Cassidy Walchak-Sloan (STM) 21:19.6; 7 Mia Crocker (WWU) 21:300; 8, Sophie Wright (WWU) 21:39.6; 9, Sara Sabra (STM) 21:42.4; 10, Grace Chalk 21:45.4.
 
SPU – 18, Annika Esvelt 22:14.5; 22, Vanessa Aniteye 22:30.3; 28, Matise Mulch 22:33.0; 39, Libby Michael 22:57.5; 45, Maya Ewing 23:37.3; 62, Katelyn Flolo 24:31.0; 64, Nicki Yorges 24:34.2.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
GNAC Championships
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022
8 kilometers at Ash Creek Preserve / Monmouth, Ore.
 
Team scores – 1, Western Washington 31; 2, Simon Fraser 52; 3, Alaska Anchorage 83; 4, Western Oregon 114; 5, Saint Martin's 133; 6, Montana State Billings 162; 7, Central Washington 181; 8, Seattle Pacific 228; 9, Northwest Nazarene 239; 10, Alaska Fairbanks 285.
 
Top 10 – 1, Cole Nash (UAA) 23:46.2; 2, Charlie Dannatt (Simon) 24:03.4; 3, Jeret Gillingham (WWU) 24:06.5; 4, Andrew Oslin (WWU) 24:07.1; 5, Sebastian Brinkman (Simon) 24:07.9; 6, Michael Zapherson (UAA) 24:12.0; 7, George Karamitsos (WWU) 24:12.5; 8 Kevin McDermott (WWU) 24:20.6; 9, Ryan Clough (WWU) 24:22.7; 10, Hunter Hutto (WOU) 24:23.0.
 
SPU – 40, Jon Owen 26:00.0; 49, Brennan LeBlanc 26:40.4; 52, Drew Thompson 27:04.6; 56, Lucas Cervantes Reyes 27:36.2; 62, Nathaniel Gale 27:50.4; 63, Tom Thake 27:51.7; 68, Isaac Venable 28:54.9.